One year of the "German Strategy Forum for Standardisation"

In December, the National Strategy Forum for Standardisation, chaired by Parliamentary State Secretary Dr Franziska Brantner at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, presented its first results. Convened by the BMWK, the panel of leading figures from companies, associations, science, standardisation organisations, administration and society has been advising the Federal Government on strengthening Germany's role in international standardisation since the beginning of 2023. In addition to the key topics of hydrogen, the circular economy, AI, data and quantum technologies as well as direct current, the forum has also addressed the recruitment of urgently needed experts and developed initial recommendations.

International norms and standards are decisive factors in the digital and sustainable transformation. They make it possible for companies to implement political requirements relating to the circular economy or energy efficiency and ensure that technical and digital solutions are as interoperable as possible worldwide. They are therefore also an important instrument of a successful location and competition policy: those who shape international standards give local companies a clear competitive advantage on global markets. Germany is one of the leading nations in the management of technical standardisation bodies at international level.

Franziska Brantner: "The Strategy Forum has a clear focus on the European and international level: we need to become much stronger in some areas, such as data or hydrogen. However, we must also promptly review existing international standards at ISO, IEC, ITU and others for possible adoption in order to quickly implement the digital transformation of our economy in particular, such as in AI standardisation, in order to bring important applications to the market more quickly. A horizontal digital product passport also accelerates the transformation of the economy and creates a decisive advantage for Germany as a business location, as the work has shown. This will make important product information digitally accessible along the entire value chain. Our forum brings together all groups of stakeholders to achieve a strong interlinking of players from areas such as standardisation and regulation in future technologies. In the case of hydrogen, we are therefore relying on a coordination platform in Germany to pool our resources and activities within the EU and strategically align them with international standardisation."

Another focus of the forum for the efficient use of renewable energies and the success of the energy transition is the strategic topic of direct current: the aim is to quickly identify the needs for standardisation and regulation in order to play a leading role internationally. Financial support for participation in standardisation and the promotion of young talent are also important horizontal topics in the committee in order to secure the influence of German experts at European and international level. At the same time, financial support makes it easier for new important interested parties, for example from the scientific community or start-ups, to participate in standardisation. The national strategy forum also works closely with its European counterpart, the High-Level Forum on European Standardisation, in which Franziska Brantner represents Germany.